


Redemption

by Grigoriweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Confrontations, Gen, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:01:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23788249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grigoriweasley/pseuds/Grigoriweasley
Summary: Draco goes to Fred's funeral.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Ron Weasley, Ron Weasley & Weasley Family
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody :) this is a work that came into my mind some days ago, because I read somewhere that Draco had gone to Fred Weasleys' funeral without being seen from nobody except from George. I kinda have different feelings on Draco: I don't love him, but I also don't hate him. I just think he deserved an arc of redemption at the end of the series, so I combined the two things and that's what came out! hope you enjoy it :)

Draco was standing alone in the rain, in the corner right at the end of the street. The massive oaks helped him stay hidden and the heavy wind whirled above his unsteady breaths. 

He didn’t really know why he had come…Nobody would’ve wanted him there, he was sure. And his parents, especially his father, wouldn’t be so thrilled about it either if they  
knew. “And they’d be right” he thought. He hadn’t even warned them on where he was going, he just got out of their manor while he wasn’t being watched. 

His relationship with the Weasleys had always been rocky, to say the least; his family had always induced him to think they were “blood traitors” just because, even though they were purebloods, they didn’t choose to become Death Eaters and side with Voldemort during the first wizards’ war. So he had always felt this kind of hatred towards them and he showed it by making mean remarks on their delicate financial situation. 

During his years at Hogwarts, he had kept on despising the redheaded family more and more, especially Ron, due to the great friendship that the boy had with Harry. Draco would never admit it in front of them, but there had been several occasions in which he had felt a pang of jealousy in his chest when looking at the strong bond that Harry, Ron and Hermione had. He had never experienced something similar in his life; his father was cold and cruel to him and his mother, though caring and affectionate, had never possessed enough courage to challenge her husband’s behaviour. He’d had some classmates that he liked, like Crabbe, Goyle or Blaise, but it was nothing compared with what Potter and the other two had. Whenever something happened, whether it was good or bad, you’d always find them together, side by side. Draco, on the contrary, was always on his own.

Only when the war had ended and Voldemort was finally dead had Draco understood how wrong he had been all that time. He had listened to his father, he had done what he’d asked him to and, in the end, he’d got nothing. He’d been forced to join Voldermort’s army even though he was terrified by it and all his schoolmates hated him for choosing the Dark side; he didn’t even get the glory to fight, ‘cause his coward of a father had made the entire family run away when he’d seen that Harry was still alive. And when, after Harry had won, they had come back to a destroyed Hogwarts everybody looked at them with disgust and rage. He remembered the looks that his former schoolmates gave him, scowling and judging; he also remembered the strange ache in his heart at the sight of the castle shattered to pieces. 

His mind took him back to the moment when he saw the Weasleys, the family he had so despised, gathered in a circle around something that was lying on the ground, their faces completely transfigured with pain. At first he hadn’t grasped what had happened, but then he took a few steps forward and realized: Fred Weasley’s body was lying flat on the ground, without moving, his face pale as the one of a ghost. A wave of horror and guilt had hit him; he’d never thought, until that moment, that he would see his schoolmates die…Maybe in his first years of school he would’ve been okay with that, or at least pretended to be, in order to make his father happy and proud; but in the last year he’d learned that almost all of his father’s beliefs were simply untrue. Also, he’d never say it to anyone, but he found the Weasley twins very funny and he felt truly sorry for Fred. 

He was sobbing quietly, reliving these memories in his head, when a sudden voice made him startle.  
“What the hell are you doing here?”


	2. Chapter 2

“What the hell are you doing here?” Ron was staring at him, looking at him with rage mixed with pity; the rest of the Weasley family were gathered together only a few miles behind and were talking quietly, meaning that the funeral must have ended. 

The redhead got closer to Draco, so as not to be heard from his parents and brothers, and repeated his question: “What’s your deal coming here today? Did you do it just so you could say something mean about how we cannot afford new clothes for my brother’s funeral? Because If you did, I swear to God I’ll make you regret it.” Draco looked down and murmured in a voice so low that Ron barely understood his words: “I wouldn’t say that. It’s low and cruel, even for me…” 

“You never had any problems with being cruel, if I remember correctly”

The blonde guy didn’t answer.

“I asked you a question” went on Ron, “why did you come?”

“I don’t know… You know what, that’s none of your business Weasley! I’m just gonna leave” said Draco, turning his back on Ron and beginning to walk away; but the other boy’s voice interrupted him.

“George saw you crying…He decided to take a walk and clear his head ‘cause attending to the funeral was hurting him too much and he caught a glimpse of you sniffling under one of the oaks. He didn’t tell anybody though, just me.”

Draco turned around again and looked straight into Ron’s eyes, whispering: “I’m sorry for your brother”

Ron snorted.

“You may not believe me, Weasley, but it’s the truth”

“OF COURSE I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!” barked Ron. “Why would I? You and your disgraced family helped Voldemort come back. You were the one who made sure the Death Eaters had a way to break into the school and you crawled back to Riddle when you thought he’d won the war-“

“What could I have done? I was just scared and my family was already on his side! It was the only choice for me!” shouted Draco, his voice beginning to tremble.  
The pity in Ron’s eyes had now almost overcome the rage. “No, it wasn’t” he stated, “and you know it. You could’ve sided with us, with Hogwarts…You must have known that everybody in the school would’ve protected you as much as they could!”

“YEAH, AS IF!” Draco was now both screaming and crying. “Nobody would’ve saved me ‘cause everybody hated me! I didn’t have any friends that would stick by me like you and Granger have always done with Potter, I’ve always been alone! Not even the professors liked me; and my own father wanted to force me to become a murderer…I just took the easy way ‘cause I didn’t know what else to do.”

Ron remained silent for a few moments. Then he spoke: “I get you were afraid, but I still think you could have acted differently. As much as we despised you, we’d never let you die if we could avoid it, because that’s how we’re made. And we’ve shown it to you, ‘cause we saved your ass a couple of times. And don’t you think that we were scared, or worried? Of course we were; we were almost sure we were gonna die in the war and lose some of our dear ones…Guess what, it happened. I lost my brother, the Order lost the majority of its members and almost everybody lost some schoolmates or friends. But none of them would’ve turned their backs on the school like you and most Slytherins did. There is always another choice.”

“Yeah, well I guess it was too late when I realized I was on the wrong side… The first time that I fully understood Voldemort’s destructive powers was in the Great Hall after the war: seeing all those dead bodies and everybody around them crying, that’s when it hit me”, Draco confessed.

“And I guess having a father like yours may have made it harder for you to escape” Ron murmured.

“Well he’s been sentenced to ten years in Azkaban now, so maybe he won’t be a problem for a while” said Draco sadly.

Ron responded with a quiet “Yeah”.

Suddenly they heard someone approaching from behind: it was George. 

Draco had never seen the boy like this: usually, he and Fred would always go around making pranks, laughing or carrying their Wizards’ Wheezes products…Now, George’s face was pale and thin, like he’d lost a lot of weight, and the playful flicker that used to sparkle in his eyes had gone away. 

“Ron, we’re leaving. Mum’s looking for you” he said.

“Coming” was his brother’s reply.

The two Weasleys and Draco looked at each other for a moment; then the two brothers nodded their heads towards the blonde guy, as to say goodbye, and walked away.

As he watched them, Draco felt an odd sensation: all the hatred and the disgust he had felt towards them in the past years had disappeared, replaced by a growing feeling of compassion and, maybe, understanding. He may have made the wrong choices, but today he’d proven to himself that he wasn’t as cruel as his father and that was already a redemption for him.


End file.
